Closure device



March 17, 1970 s. SCIOLINO 3,500,599

CLOSURE DEVICE Filed Oct. 23, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS.

March 17, 1970 s. SCIOLINO 3,500,599

CLOSURE DEVICE Filed Oct. 23. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I I Z i I H I 177 I I I 70 I E I I I QOJ 5 252 4 5"32 g I I g I 25 I l I I I 29 I I I I I A ATTORNEYS.

3,500,599 I CLOSURE DEVICE Samuel Sciolino, Bulialo, N.Y., assignor to Weathershield v Corporation, Buffalo, NY. Filed Oct. 23, 1967, Ser. No.- 677,210 Int. Cl. E04l1 9/14, 14/00 Us. Cl. 52-173 3 Claims "ABSTRACT OF run DISCLOSURE .In the accompanying drawings; 4 I V FIG. .1 is, a face view of. a of a building provided with. a door opening through which the rear end of a .truck may extend.

a FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation thereof. on line 22, FIG. 1. FIG. 3 .is a view similar to FIG. 2 and showing a part of a truck backed into positionat the door opening.

41. is. a transverse sectional view. on an enlarged scale, showing in detail the padding employed at the door opening. i I 1 FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of a door opening provided with pads of modified construction.

FIG. 6 is a view showing the same padding when deflected by a truck. if

FIG. 7 is a horizontal sectional view showing a different arrangement of pads .on the exterior surface of the building about the dooropening.

FIG. 8 is an elevation of one of 'thejpads at aside of the door opening.

-l FIG. 9 is a similar View movement of a truck. a

' Inthe drawings 10 represents the side ofa building having a door opening 11 therein provided with a sill 12 at the lower edge :of the'opening; Trucks or other United States Patent 0 ofthe pads whenxshifted by vehicles, when loading orunloading material, are usually backed toward the door-opening so that the rear end thereof extends into or: into: proximity to the opening. The door opening is usually made of greater width than the width of a truck or vehicle so that vehicles of different widths can be readily backed into operative relation to the door opening. When the door opening is wider than the width of the truck, air spaces are left between the truck and the opposite sides of the door opening. Frequently the temperature on the inside of the building is different from that on the outside and consequently the flow of air through the spaces between the truck and the door opening may be objectionable. If, for example, a building is refrigerated or maintained at a temperature higher than the outdoor temperature, the: passage of air through the spaces between the truck sides and the door opening. will interfere with maintaining the desired temperature in the building.

In order to remedy this situation I have provided on the exterior of the wall adjacent to the door opening flexible and resilient strips 15 to occupy at least some of the space between the vehicle and the building. These pads or strips may be made-of any suitable yielding or resilient material which are engaged by a truck 16 as it is backed into operative relation to the door opening and then compressed or changed in shape so as to maintain a "ice yielding pressure against the side walls of the truck, to form a seal against movement of air through the space between the door opening and the truck. The yielding material may be of any well known cellular material such, for example, as cellular polyethylene foam. This material is very flexible and after being deformed out of its usual shape, it will return to such shape when pressure on the same is released. Thus the pads or strips will exert yielding pressure against the sides of the truck and their flexibility will enable them to cooperate with trucks of different widths and shapes.

In the particular construction shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the positions of these strips or pads 17 which extend across the door opening are made with converging, sides. For example, the inner walls 18 of the pads and the outer walls 19 converge so that the inner edges of the pads are of less thickness than the parts thereof Which are secured to the building wall. This enables pads to flex more readily when engaged by a vehicle.

Preferably the resilient pads are secured to boards or other fiat supports or plates 20 which in turn are secured to the side walls of the building. The pads are secured to the supporting plates or boards 20 by suitable cement or adhesive, and these supports 20 may then be secured to the building in any suitable or usual manner. As clearly shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the converging sides 18 and 19 formed by inclined faces 18 on the portions of the pads which extend across the door opening. As a truck or other vehicle is backed toward the door opening, as shown in FIG. 3, it first engages the outer, flatsurfaces 19 of the pads on opposite sides of the door opening to seal the spaces between the truck and the door frame. If it is desired to back the truck farther toward the building, it then bends the tapered parts of the pads inwardly toward or into the door opening. These pads, because of their tapering shape can readily adapt themselves to the sides of the truck, regardless of the extent to which the same is backed into the door opening.

The outer surfaces of the pads, when made of light, flexible material, are sensitive to damage, particularly when engaged by any irregularities on the sides of the truck, such for example as door hinges or the like, and consequently it is desirable to cover these pads with material which offers high resistance to tearing or damage by the sides of the truck, without interfering with the flexing ofthe pads. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 4, the pads are initially covered with a layer of tough, flexible lining material 25 which, for example,

could be a woven fabric or a synthetic sheet material,

deformed positions.

The exterior surfaces of the pads or strips which may be contacted by a vehicle are preferably protected by a layer 27 of flexible material which is much tougher and much less subject to tearing than the lining layer 25. This outer layer 27 may extend throughout the height of the pads. It may be for example, a neoprene or other synthetic sheet material which is shaped to cover the outer, flat surfaces 19 of the pads and which has inwardly extending portions or flanges 28 and 29, the portions 28 extending along the tapered face 18 of the pad. The other edge or flange 29 of the tough, flexible outer material 27 extends around the rear edge of the pad.

It is of course desirable to have the outer protecting material 27 attached to the strips or pads in such a manner that the protecting strip may move vertically relatively to the pad. The protecting material may, for example, be attached to the lining material in some suitable manner so that the bending of the inner edges of the pads will not cause breaking or cracking of the protecting, material and ,forwthis. edges 'or flanges of the outer protecting material a readily flexible, elastic material 32, such for example, as sheet rubber. This highly flexible material may be cemented to the outer protectingmaterial 27 at, the edges or flanges 28 and 29 thereof. This elastic material 32 extends beyond the side portions or flanges 28 and 29 and may then be secured to the inner lining layer 25 in any suitable manner, for example, by means of stapling or sewing, as indicated at 33. a

It is of course obvious that during the loading or unloading of a truck positioned in engagement with the strips or pads, the truckwill move upwardly or downwardlydepending on the change in load of the truck. These changes in weightcause theouter protective material 27 to move up and down relatively to the pads and therlining material material 25,, and this movement'is made possible, by 'thevelastic material 32.

In FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 Ihave shown different forms of Ithefiresilient strips orpads. In FIG. 5, strips 35 of rectangular shape, are provided which are cemented to plates or panels 36, and these panels are secured to the .building.- e

FIG. 6 shows how these strips orpads are flexed vwhen i engaged by a truck, 38.

In FIG. 7 I have shown padding strips or pads 40 which are arranged on the building adjacent to the door opening 41 but not extending across the same. These strips vserve to engage trucks or vehicles which may be wiclrithan the door opening, and which when backed against the pads 40 will form a suitable obstruction to the passage of air into thedoor opening beyond the sides of the truck.

, While I have shown in FIG. 4 in detail the arrangement of the lining and the outer protected layer 27, it will be understood that this arrangement is employed in connection .with all of the strips or pads shown in the other figures of thedrawings.

The upper edge of, the door opening may be provided with a curtain ,or other means for contacting the roof of the truck to prevent passage of air through this part of the door space.

In FIG.. 8 I have shown a strip or pad of the type illustrated in the preceding FIGS. 1-7 inclusive, and in FIG. 9 is shown a similar pad or strip when engaged by a truck 38 which has been at least partially unloaded so that the body portion of the truck is moved upwardly as indicated by the arrow. In .this movement the truck has carried the outer protective covering material 27 upwardly while fiexingthe elastic strips 32, without producingany material upward movement of the outer parts of the strips or pads within the protective part 27.

I claim: a

1, A closure device for sealing the space between a door opening of a building and a vehicle, and which will pu p se.Lproyidewa ongmt elfectivelyoperate with truck bodysizes which are both larger and smaller than the door opening, comprising:

(a) a support-plate which is adapted to be aflixed to the outer building surface on each side of the door opening,

(b) a resilient cellular pad having a thick, compressible main portion, the rear surface of which is mounted on said support plate,

(c) -a-='vehicle side engaging flap-like portion of'said cellular pad extending outwardly across the door opening to engage theside of a truck body which passes through'said opening,"

'(d) the outer and inner surfaces of said fiap-like vehicle side engaging portion of said pad converging to form a tapered thin-section body of substantially less thickness than said main body portion; whereby when the vehiclebody passes through the opening, the-fiap-like reduced size side 'engaging portion'of thepad readily deflects and is not damaged when squeezed ,between'theivehicle body and door opening, (e) an "outer protectivecovering of abrasion resistant resilient material which covers said pad and conforms to the contour thereof to protect the pad from damageby'said vehicle. I

2. The closure device as set forth -in claim 1,wherein: (a) the front surface of said'resilient cellularpad' on each side of saidopening is disposed in a common plane parallel to the outer surface of said building adjacent the. door opening. 1 3. The closure device as set forth in claim 1, wherein: '(a) a strip of very flexible material is disposed along the length'of said pad for retaining said abrasion resistant ,material' in; position, and permits vertical movement thereof along the pad with movement of the truck 'body engaged by it. 1

i References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,403,489 lo/196s Frommelt .et al. s2' 173 x -'2,704,574. 3/1955 'Etlar 52--2fl4 3,181,205 5/1965 Frommelt et al. 52- 2o'4 7 3,230,675 ,1/1966 Froinmelt et al. 52-173 3,286,417 11/1966 Dazzo. 52--204 3,303,615 2/1967 ONeal i. 52----204X 3,349,519 10/1267 -Nehlig 52-716X 3,375,625 4/1968 Edkins et al. -a--- 52-204X HENRY Primary Examiner. s91). BURKE In, Assistant Examiner 

